Killing SPAMER/lurker was Re: Fwd: [clug] Unable to write to nfs mounted shares

[steve jenkin]

Could we collectively apply ourselves to solving this problem - for 
these guys and for any future spamers?

1. These guys have been lurking on the list for more than a year.
2. The list admins (thank you guys!) have mentioned this before and 
tried to solve it.  My understanding is that another address forwards to 
'petsupermarket' and it's not been located.
3. We have a rather large amount of 'clue' within the list - this 
problem should not be too deep for us collectively.

I don't know:
a) how many mail addresses are subscribed to the list [size of problem]
b) the version of mailman/whatever is running the list 
[impediments/constraints]
c) if there are any neat scripts to confirm mail addresses... [existing 
solutions]

Some possible solutions:
0) Maybe this is a solved problem in recent versions of mailman...

i) use a script to individually send a test message to each mail 
address. The 'from' etc lines to look like the list, but each subject 
line to be unique (the index number of the mail address in the mailman 
list?) and the message body to be something like 'test message to 
<subscribed address>.'

ii) Take script i), add a reply-to address with an autohandler that 
collects replies.
Add to the body to 'Please confirm your address to remain on the list'

iii) Create a new list and ask everyone to subscribe to it by a given 
date [allowing for ppl on holidays/away].
On D-Day:
- send last announcement saying 'you have to resubscribe'
- delete everyone modulo admins from the current list
- export the subscribed people from the new list [keep this list 
somewheres, perhaps in the new/temp list]
- import the new subscriptions to the current list
- delete everyone from the new list.
- Optionally, remove the new/temp list
  [If anyone ever subscribes to the new list, it's a flag that they are 
spammers]

I don't like to ask the list admins to do extra work - it's not fair on 
them - they probably have lives offsite from their computer screens :-)

I can't help with PERL scripting (but could cobble something together 
with shell script & "sendmail -f")
- we have enough high quality perl mongers to provide a nice solution.

But I am prepared to help or do the swap of mailman lists .... I'd need 
to temporarily have a list admin password.

As an on-going admin function, how should dead addresses & spammers be 
dealt with in the future?
A once a year clean-out & resubscribe??? [Just before Linux.Conf.AU may 
be good. Or mid-year?]
Something else??

cheers
steve



Kim Holburn wrote on 19/4/06 8:06 AM:
> Hey Guys,
>
> I got this reply to my last clug post.  Does this mean that 
> <petsupermarket.sspam at uol.com.br> is a memebr of the clug list?  Can 
> we remove it?
>
> Kim
>
>


-- 
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://www.tip.net.au/~sjenkin